The Open Society Foundations ( OSF ) , a international philanthropic and grantmaking organization , has respond to a bombshell report that senior management at Facebook include Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg , CEO Mark Zuckerberg , and chief lobbyist Joel Kaplan were involved in hire a Republican opposition research house named Definers Public Affairs to counter the company ’s develop list of critics — include by peddling conspiracy possibility about OSF ’s beginner , Magyar - American investor and Holocaust survivor George Soros .
Spoilers : They ’re not well-chosen .
On Wednesday , theNew York Times reportedthat as critic rage up a campaign charge that Facebook ’s fast-growing international expansion effort led it to ignore legion incident in which it was “ exploited to disrupt elections , broadcast viral propaganda and urge deadly run of hatred around the world , ” the company sought to discredit those critic using a variety of dingy tricks . One of those was contracting Definers , which waged a crusade to “ cast Mr. Soros as the unacknowledged force behind what appeared to be a broad anti - Facebook movement . ”
Several of the groups affiliated with Freedom from Facebook , which was spearhead the effort to rein in the societal media whale , had received payment from OSF — a link tenuous enough to be accurately characterized as yet another correct - wing confederacy theory about Soros .
To portray its critics as Soros - backed , Facebook hired a atomic number 59 business firm called Definers Public Affairs .
That firm is headed by Joe Pounder , who also runs America Rising — a correct - wing oppo grouping Trump ’s Acting AG Matt Whitaker rent for " research " in 2015 - 16 : https://t.co / SteaHXdWw6pic.twitter.com / RuDZIFVsaA
— Ken Klippenstein ( @kenklippenstein)November 15 , 2018
Soros , who is often vilified byvirtually the full conservative movementand about constant aim of anti - Semitic propaganda for his philanthropic initiatives , had a bombarrive at his housein October . In a letter to Sandberg , and CC’d to Zuckerberg as well as major Silicon Valley figures and members of Congress , OSF President Patrick Gaspard drew a direct connection between Facebook ’s alleged “ smear campaign ” and the assay bombing . He added that the society ’s behavior more broadly speaking undermines “ the very values underpinning our democracy . ”
My letter to@facebookregarding the malignment campaign they paid for and disseminated against George Soros & @OpenSocietyas reported by@nickconfessorein the@nytimes . These manoeuvre out of Putin ’s playbook have no home in an important debate about the integrity of our electionspic.twitter.com/jF9RhC5vSy
— Patrick Gaspard ( @patrickgaspard)November 15 , 2018
“ As you know , there is a concerted right - flank elbow grease the world over to demonize Mr. Soros and his foundations , which I conduce — an effort which has contributed to death threat and the delivery of a pipe bomb to Mr. Soros ’ home , ” Gaspard write . “ You are no doubt also aware that much of this mean and blatantly false and anti - Semite information is spread out via Facebook . ”
“ The belief that your company , at your guidance , actively engaged in the same behavior to try and disbelieve people work out their First Amendment rights to dissent Facebook ’s role in disseminating nauseous propaganda is frankly astonishing to me , ” Gaspard continue . “ It ’s been disappointing to see how you have give out to supervise hate and misinformation on Facebook ’s platform . To now learn that you are active in promoting these distortions is beyond the pale . ”
Gaspard added that Facebook had settle on Soros as a “ deliberate strategy to distract ” from its own scandals , writing : “ This is reprehensible , and an umbrage to the core values Open Society endeavor to advance . But at the bottom , this is not about George Soros or the groundwork . Your methods jeopardize the very value underpinning our republic . ”
Gaspard ask for a meeting with Sandberg to directly discuss the issue and what Facebook plan to do in reply . But it ’s absolved that after years of privacy scandals , accusations of complicity in propagate propaganda and enabling genocide , and amoral advertising maneuver , the situation at Facebook is still getting worse .
Other divine revelation in the Times exposé included assertions that it enlisted Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — who receives large contribution from Facebook stave and whose girl work for the company — to in secret pressure Senator Mark Warner into toning down his criticism of Facebook and make it clear he was expected to process with , not against , the company . The Times also wrote that Facebook supported the Stop enable Sex Traffickers Act , which was oppose bysex proletarian ’ advocatesand by numeroustech companies , in part to curry favor with senators on both sides of the aisle who had criticize it in the yesteryear .
Finally , the paper reported that Definers run an affiliate called NTK connection , which escape “ dozens of article ” criticizing Facebook challenger like Google and Apple , and that NTK ’s “ depicted object is oft picked up by popular conservative outlets , including Breitbart . ” In other words , while Facebook was publicly talking a grownup game about “ bastard newsworthiness , ” its PR spouse was generating it .
So Facebook contracted with a party that was literally writing fake news . By which I mean , " level " that pretend to be from a news program org but were in fact from a embodied PR / propaganda shop.https://t.co/jxG3YQX4rkpic.twitter.com/cryDO0KTnr
— Eric Umansky ( @ericuman)November 15 , 2018
The Open Society Foundations did not instantly reply to a request for comment from Gizmodo , and we ’ll update this post if we hear back .
Update : 2025-04-29 , 7:45 p.m. ET : In a statement to Gizmodo , OSF wrote :
The Open Society Foundations and a wide range of polite fellowship organizations for the past three age have been aim by disinformation campaigns across the world . These have often taken the configuration of large - scale attacks on the internet , transmit out by players hostile to free expression , human rights , and democracy .
The latest revelations that Facebook hired a PR firm to discredit digital right hand militant , George Soros , and the Open Society Foundations start a step further : a major digital chopine is not only hosting disinformation campaigns , but it is orchestrating and promoting them .
We pep up Facebook to turn back take in practices revolutionize by the enemy of democracy across the ball . Facebook should launch an independent investigation of what took place and to publish a full report let on the techniques that were used in their effort to compromise activists and George Soros .
to boot , Color of Change , one of the polite rights groups that was ask in the Freedom from Facebook effort and received unrelated funding from Soros , wrote to Gizmodo :
Facebook is violating its most fundamental missionary work of build human connecter , as well as the trust range in it by one thousand million of people , by advance extremist far - rightfield conspiracy theories that are aimed at denigrating Jews and pick at people of colouring . It is deplorable , it is life-threatening , and they should be ashamed .
Facebook ’s reply to our campaign , which challenged them to improve their weapons platform and create good conditions for Black people and other marginalized groups , was to fan the flames of anti - Semitism . By paint a picture to newsman that Color Of Change is act as the puppet of Mr. Soros merely because he is one of our many funders , they have given atomic number 8 to the spoiled anti - Semitic confederacy theories of the white nationalistic Trump base . Those theories draw a bead on to not only dehumanise Jews , but also seek to abnegate legitimacy to progressive social front led by people of color , by suggesting we have no agenda of our own . They are an attempt to divert attention from the conservative campaign ’s real attacks on our community ’s vote , our health tutelage , our liberty , and our jobs . And they breed violence . Facebook has become part of the same ecosystem that fed the febricity dreams of Cesar Sayoc , accuse of targeting Soros and others with pipe bombs , and Robert Bowers , the valet who massacred 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh tabernacle .
Our work with Facebook began after the murder of Korryn Gaines by police . We ’ve sat across the negotiating table with Facebook for old age , focusing on the end of ensuring the safety of its Black users . The recent New York Times story shows that while we were operate in good faith trying to protect our communities , they were stoop low than we ’d ever imagined , using anti - Semitism as a crowbar to kneecap a Black - led organization do work to accommodate them accountable .
[ New York Times / Open Society Foundations ]
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